Order For Freshman 'Chase' Reduced To 18

NBC has reduced the order to freshman procedural Chase by 4 episodes, from full-season 22 to 18. Chase, from Warner Bros. TV and Bruckheimer TV, was the lowest-rated NBC series to snag a full-season pickup last month but many believed it didn’t get a fair shake by going against Hawaii Five-O on Mondays this fall with little publicity for its launch. NBC planned to give Chase a more protected time period in midseason, moving the series to Wednesdays 9 PM where it was to air against CBS’ veteran crime drama Criminal Minds. But because of Fox’s surprising decision to change the airing pattern of American Idol, Chase will now face even tougher competition in its new time slot going against Idol. NBC and Fox have formally announced their midseason schedules, ABC has done it piecemeal while CBS is said to be in no rush as its fall schedule is working and it, with no cancellations, it has no immediate holes to fill.